The Garment
Notes
Transcript
Your Own Clothes
Your Own Clothes
Have you ever seen a British royal wedding?
Or perhaps the met gala?
After an awards ceremony or some other lavish public event there is often a fashion article about all the different dresses and outfits and fascinators all the attendees wore. Below each photo is a description such as, Emma Corrin in Custom Miu Miu and Cartier jewelry. No one with any influence or money wants to go to an awards ceremony dressed like someone else. Everyone at a royal wedding is wearing their own, custom-made, designer outfit so they can stand out from the crowd.
So, what if you went to a wedding and the royal hosts handed out simple, not-so-stylish robes you were suppose to put over your fancy, one-of-a-kind outfit? Would you cover up your clothes, or would you choose to stand out?
Review
Review
This week is our second sermon in a series on the Last Parables of Jesus. Last week we explored two parables that were closely related—the parable of the two boys, one who repented and the other who selfishly disobeyed, and the parable of the vineyard caretakers who refused to give their fruit to the landowner. In both of these parables we saw a picture of the surrendered and repentant sinners verses the self-righteous, so-called leaders. We ended by recognizing that God has given us every resource for success and he invites us to bear fruit for Him—the fruit of repentance and loving obedience; the fruit of loving relationships and maturing discipleship in the church, and the fruit of new believers in the family of God. And soberingly we recognized that if we don’t bear fruit we will end up like the cursed fig-tree.
The priests and scribes were understandably indignant. Jesus had stepped all over their pride and spiritual superiority and they wanted Him dead. But they feared the people so they waited.
Matt 22 picts up the story by saying, “and again Jesus spoke to them in parables…” We know this was during the last week before the cross, but Matthew doesn’t tell us if this was the same day as the other two parables or not. But I tend to think that Jesus just kept on talking after the last parable. He really wanted to break up the hard hearts of these religious leaders. Let’s read the first fourteen verses:
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
By a wedding feast Jesus is wanting us to recognize the intimacy that God desires to have with us. The whole “our father which art in heaven” should have been a big enough clue that God wants us to be his relatives. But that message is hard to absorb.
In our humanity we think about appeasing a God who we think must be angry with us. Things don’t go smoothly for us and we fear we’ve made God unhappy or at least sad and because of our behavior or our lack of the right spiritual *stuff* He has to pull away and show his disfavor. He can’t bless us like He would be able to if we only did the right things, said the right things, prayed the right prayers, ate the right things, or dressed the right way. Like the pagans of old, many Christians are stuck with a vision of a God who is, at best, selectively loving.
But Jesus wants us to understand that not only does God want to treat us like his children—to protect and care for us; He also wants to treat us as His bride—lavishing his unfailing love on us with an intimacy only matched in the oneness of marriage. And so, he tells the story of a wedding feast.
Notice how he doesn’t call them guests. It’s implied, but he’s careful not to say that they are guests. I figure its a little awkward to talk about a wedding feast where everyone invited is one of many brides. And maybe this is why God doesn’t call us His bride individually, but instead refers to us as a group—we are all his bride. Revelation even pictures “the bride” as the new Jerusalem that is filled with His people coming down from heaven to a new earth (Rev 21:2). Regardless, the point is clear, the host of this wedding feast wants his friends to attend.
But they refuse.
They outright turn him down.
They won’t come.
He sweetens the invitation and sends it out again, telling them all the wonderful things he has planned:
Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
Right away you can see the parallels between the caretakers of the vineyard and the wedding feast invitees. But notice the difference. The vineyard was about an expectation of service. But this is purely an invitation to fellowship. How hard is it to carve out a week of your time for an all-expenses-paid destination wedding at a lavish resort with the best foods possible? Plus, its your best friend’s wedding. How can you say, no? But they all do, and they do it in such horrible ways. They betray their king’s trust, they harm his servants, and even kill some of them.
So what does this king do?
The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Can you blame Him for His response? If you sent your children over to the neighbor’s house to invite them to dinner and they ended up kicking and punching your kid until they were black and blue, wouldn’t you demand justice in kind?
In telling this story Jesus was telling the story of Israel. They rejected his advances and murdered His prophets. So, he allowed the nations around Israel to gain power over them and persecute them and take them out of their land and even kill them. But he had mercy on them too.
Notice Ezekiel’s prophecy about Israel in chapter 36:
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
In spite of their murderous and spiritually profligate lifestyle, God dealt mercifully with Israel.
Let’s get back to the story in Matt 22.
The next thing the king did was send out his servants again:
Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
Notice how the “unworthy” ones were the friends of the king. They were not unworthy because the king refused to give them an invitation, but because they rejected the invitation. Anyone who accepted the invitation was now considered worthy. And the invitation went to everyone, everywhere!
Let’s stop for a moment to consider the implication of an invitation from the king to a wedding feast. Who gets to go to a royal wedding?
The king’s family
Extended relatives
Close friends of the family
Members of the government
Military leaders
Politicians and diplomats
Foreign royalty
Religious figures with high office
But all those people rejected the king’s invitation and now this wedding was filled with “good and bad” guests. People who had no position to warrant the interest of the king. They had no status in society. And they weren’t even all that nice of people. But you better believe they wore the best clothes they could get their hands on. They weren’t going to come to the wedding in their everyday clothes. Some of them even came with really nice clothes. Sure, some wore rags—that’s all they had, but others emptied their bank accounts, leveraged their land, and bought the best clothes they could get.
And this is where the real story begins.
We don’t know the details here, except that by the time the king comes in everyone is wearing the same thing. Whoever showed up for this wedding feast was given a garment from the king—something to cover up whatever they were wearing.
Everyone put it on. It didn’t matter if you’d just borrowed against your farm for your fancy clothes, or if you wore the only set of clothes you had, everyone at the wedding feast wore royal robes.
Except one guy.
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
Why do you think this guys was speechless? Was it because he didn’t know about the royal robes provided by the king? Most likely this guy took a look at the not too flashy robe and thought,
“what I’m wearing is higher quality and better looking. I think I’ll wear what I’ve got on, thank you.”
But now the king is standing at his side and asking why he didn’t wear the robe provided and what was there to say?
“Your majesty… your robe was so plain...” No, that wouldn’t do.
“Your majesty… I thought my clothes were bett...” No, that’s clearly a wrong answer.
“Your majesty… I know you gave one to everyone, but I just didn’t think you’d care...” No, He clearly cares, he had one sized just for me.
Everything that came to this guys mind was wrong, and he knew it.
The Judgment
The Judgment
Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
This moment represents the judgment before the second coming. This is the preparation time before the feast. Right now there is what some call the “sifting” time. It’s the time where God walks in and examines the preparations for the feast. Some call it the Investigative judgment or the Day of Atonement. In this time the people of God are on trial—accused by Satan and defended by Jesus. Every believer throughout all history will be brought before the judgment seat of God, and the one thing God will be looking for in order to proclaim, “exonerated, forgiven, redeemed” is Christ’s robe of righteousness.
If they have the robe then, According to Daniel 7:22, the judgment will be favorable:
Daniel 7:22 (NLT)
the Ancient One—the Most High—came and judged in favor of his holy people. Then the time arrived for the holy people to take over the kingdom.
If they don’t have the robe, then… well not so favorable.
Think back to the parable of the two boys. One was openly rebellious but repented and followed Jesus in love, and the other was publicly religious but inwardly hard hearted and unyielding. The story of the wedding garment is the same story. Most people, both “good and bad” came to the wedding feast with the best clothes they had, but they all willingly put on the wedding garment of the King. These represent the repentant—the lovers of Jesus. The one who refused the King’s robe represents all those who come to God with their own best gifts. These are the Cains who bring their fruits and veggies. These are the priests who bring their traditions and their self-righteousness.
The Robe
The Robe
So what does this robe represent?
Let’s look at a few texts:
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
and
so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
But wait, that doesn’t sound like Isaiah 64:6
Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)
But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
Look again at Revelation 19:8.
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
This passage is describing the marriage supper—the very scene that Jesus’ parable is leading up to. And there’s a garment. But this time the passage makes it clear that the people are “the bride.” The garment is “granted” or given to the the bride, and she puts it on. And then it says that this fine linen garment is the righteous deeds of the saints.
The what!?
I thought the righteous deeds of the saints was tattered and filthy rags?
And you would be right. If we come to the wedding in our own righteousness then all the king will see is a person with rags on who turned a hard heart away from His offers of grace.
The kings garment is called “the righteous deeds of the saints.” This isn’t the righteousness of the saints, its the righteousness of Christ that the saints are granted to be clothed in.
Ellen White, in Christ’s Object lessons, says that the fine linen “is the righteousness of Christ, His own unblemished character, that through faith is imparted to all who receive Him as their personal Saviour.” (Christ’s Object Lessons p. 310)
The filthy rag of our own righteousness was aptly illustrated by the fig leaves that Adam and Eve hastily sewed for themselves when they found themselves uncovered, exposed and guilty. But the fig leaves have never been sufficient. No matter how grand our works have become they will always and forever fall short of the glory of God’s limitless love. That is why, after demonstrating the first sacrifice, God himself fashioned garments for Adam and Eve. Only the righteousness fashioned and worked out by God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, are sufficient to make us worthy of heaven. It is only when we wear the robes fashioned by Jesus himself that, as the King inspects his bride, He can look on us and see His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah. Only Jesus accomplished that. Only Jesus is righteous and good.
Some like to think that when I accept the invitation of God that somehow I become transformed. Before my righteousness was filthy rags, but now that I’m baptized I my past sins are washed away and now I can live a pure and clean life—in the power of Christ, of course. They believe, as the church has taught for over a millenia, that baptism or the holy spirit’s infilling, suddenly gives you a new character that is capable of living a life of perfect obedience to the law and therefore worthy of sitting at that wedding feast. But this is not true. It cannot be true.
The only garment accepted at the great wedding ceremony of the lamb is the one woven in the loom of heaven. It is not the polluted perfection of our own works, however noble and however spirit-filled, that will admit us to heaven. The fact that we have broken even one of the tenants of God’s law of love would completely disqualify us from heaven for eternity. The end. No amount of good deeds or right habits can erase the former guilt. The only solution is the righteousness of Christ—His robe, woven by God himself.
But it is true that there is a deed, a work, that we must do in order to be saved.
The apostles said, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31-34) And in Revelation 19:8 John said the bride of Christ puts on the fine linen that she is given. The concept is identical—the gift is offered but we have to receive it. You have to believe that Jess is the savior of the world and the lover of your soul.
Our character is revealed by what we do. If we stubbornly refuse to accept the righteousness of Jesus as our salvation and we insist on presenting our own righteousness to God for His approval, then we are no different than the priests in Jesus day. We have a form of godliness, but not the power of the spirit. But if we surrender ourselves to Jesus, believing that in His mercy he covers us with His righteousness, the Spirit will enter our lives and grow in us the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Appeal
Appeal
Who’s righteousness do you trust? Which garment are you showing off? Your own, or the one weaved by Jesus just for you? Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, are you brining your own righteousness to Jesus and hoping for Him to be pleased with your accomplishments?
I have good news for you, He can’t love you more than He already does. But he doesn’t love you because of what you bring to Him—Cain showed us that in the garden of eden. Nothing we can bring to God will make Him love us more. He loved us so much that He gave himself for us. His righteousness, not ours, is what pleads are case in heaven’s court.
And all you need to do is put it on.
Believe by faith that, right now, you are accepted in the Jesus.
The priests and religious people of Jesus day had all kinds of good things to say about themselves. Listen to Paul talk about his former self:
Philippians 3:4–8 (ESV)
If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Rubbish, filthy, those are the words that describe the righteousness of the most faithful adherents of judaism. But what about the righteousness of the most faithful adherent to Christianity? Rubbish and filthy.
But to know Jesus! That’s worth loosing it all. Just to gain Christ is worth the loss of everything thing else.
What will you choose?